New striker Brett Pitman is hoping his move to Ipswich will make it third time lucky in his quest for Premier League football.
His goals — 13 from 18 league starts and a further 16 games from the bench — helped the Cherries to top slot in the Championship last season and he has an answer for anyone confused by his decision not to remain on board for their first-ever crack at the big-time.
Going further back in his career he was close to joining Blackpool in August 2010 after the clubs agreed a fee of an initial £400,000, only for the deal to collapse after Pitman had made his way to the North-West for talks.
He recalled: "I had a medical at Blackpool and in the end I decided it wasn’t for me. There were one or two reasons why and in the end I think it was a good decision.
"Ipswich could be third time lucky and it would be nice. That’s what I have come here for and hopefully we can get there. It would be nice to play in the Premier League.
"I wasn’t forced out at Bournemouth — it was my choice to leave. If I was going to be frustrated now at not being there I wouldn’t have come here. It’s nice to be at a club where you’re going to play a fair bit, hopefully, and that was why I chose to come to Ipswich.
"I’m here for football reasons but from what I’ve seen of the area it’s very pleasant. Bournemouth is a lovely area but from what the lads have been telling me I’m sure this is just as nice.”
Jersey-born Pitman, who first joined the Cherries when he was 16, had a year of his contract still to run when Town boss Mick McCarthy picked up the phone to opposite number Eddie Howe to check on the player’s possible availability.
Pitman added: "People ask if I am gutted at missing out on the Premier League with Bournemouth. It makes you look back and you think ‘I could still be there and I could still play’.
"But realistically I didn’t know how much I was going to play and when Ipswich came in for me I thought it was a really good challenge, one that really excited me, so that was why I chose to come here.
"I know there will be competition for places here and I think that’s good. No one has a God-given right to play so if you play well I’m sure you will stay in the team. If you don’t there are a few options up front. Hopefully, we can all chip in with our fair share of goals and that will help us.”
Asked to compare the Ipswich squad with the one he left behind at Bournemouth, he said: "It’s difficult to compare, to be honest. At the start of last season we probably didn’t feel we were going to be right up there at the end.
"It’s how you start and how the season goes obviously. All the players are not back yet so we’ll see but they reached the play-offs here last season so they can’t be too far away.”